Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 288 | San Francisco Giants | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: March 1, 2021

You guys ranked the San Francisco Giants MLB's #21 team. Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe preview their 2021 season! Presented by DraftKings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yeah, time for another team profile and projection. We are doing the San Francisco Giants. Jake, hit me with the Spanish. Los Hibido Hiantes. That's who we're doing. This is talking baseball brought to you by Draft Kings. My name's Jimmy. His name is Jake.

His name is Trevor. His name is B.B.D. The San Francisco Giants surprised a couple people last year better than people thought they were going to be. They surprised a couple of people after the season ended by extending the qualifying offer to Gossman, who accepted it. What other moves were made? Jake? James, your San Francisco Giants.

They lost some throwers, man. Drew Smiley, got that early contract from the Braves. He had some sneaky stats last year. Tony Watson been doing it for a while. Tyler Anderson. He had that one day. That's all you need him, baseball sometimes. A couple other pitchers.

Trevor Cahill still unsigned. Maybe he returns. Who they added, Tommy Lestella. The infielder. should be playing some hot corner for them this year, maybe platoon in with Treves Longoria, Jake McGee, Alex Wood, Anthony Descalphani. We're bringing some Pisans to the team.

Aaron Sanchez, John Brebia should join them mid-season from St. Louis. He's a sneaky little reliever. A couple other bodies, but, yeah, I don't know. It's kind of the giant story that I think you're going to hear this episode. A lot of A and a lot of here. Trev? Yeah.

We got the fangrass projected line. This one's pretty much. much said, I'd have to believe here. Catching, obviously we got our guy Buster Posey back, you know, see if he can regain the form. I love Buster, one of the all-time greats of that position. First base, Brandon Belt, an excellent season in 2020. Second base, Donnie Barrels, man, Donovan Solano, two years in a row hitting over 325 after kind of being a pedestrian-type hitter. Comes to the Giants, figure something out, and now he's at second base for them. Shortstop, Brandon Crawford, he's a stub. We don't have to talk about him too much.

much you know what you get with him third base new acquisition tommy la stella kind of the baseball nerds favorite player he'll be doing that third with with with with geats my guy longoria i think longo's is going to get a lot of action there as well uh so we'll see how they handle that uh left field alex dickerson center field mericio dubon and then right field yes kind of came out of nowhere now people are talking about he's one of the best outfielders in the game jim the rotation. The rotation is a bunch of guys they got via free agency, which is interesting. First time I looked at a start, projected starting five and no draft picks, no amateur

signing, no trade, just Kevin Gossman, free agent signing, Quato, free agent signing, Anthony Discofony, free agent signing. Alex Wood, free agent signing, Aaron Sanchez, free agent signing. That's their projected starting rotation. The bullpen, you got Reyes Moranto. Who's that, Jake? Ray is Maranta? Maranta.

There you go. Yeah. I mean, he's a guy that's been twirling it for a little bit now. He'll be down there. He'll get you some outs. Jake McGee, Tyler Rogers. Matt Whistler. Trevor got one of the many Trevers in MLB right now.

I don't know what to make of this giant squad. They confuse me and I don't know their strategy. And I don't know the front offices. desired outcome of this season. And Jake, I'd like you to film you. John, so these giants have a couple funky things working for them. They've been in this weird midler area for a couple years now. 2019, we were cheering them on.

We were happy. They had that crazy month. Let's go, Giants. They got hot, and we said, yeah, Giants, go get it. Didn't do anything for them. Last year, the weird season, a bit of the same. They are the only team. I want to say this is a fun fact I stole from the MLB network

with seven returning starters who had an OPS plus above 100. So they've got some guys that hit it around. It's just guys you're not that familiar with. I mean, Yaz has been killing it over there. Alex A. Dick, Alex Dickerson. Brandon Belt, you know, that guy has been around for a long time and he's had some ups and he's had some downs. Brandon Crawford, his last, what should maybe will be his last year as a giant.

So up and down this lineup, you got some guys, Maricio Du Bon. Oh. And center field did it for them last year. So I think the Giants like their team. I think this is a dumb statement. I think the Giants like their team more than any other team would like the Giants. But I don't know, man. It just they feel like they're one of the middle teams that we have so many teams in baseball

that are either just tanking it, throwing it in, and we have a lot of teams going for it. Giants are one of these weird teams in the middle where it's like, okay. You signed Alex Wood, Gossman, you gave the qualifying offer to. What's kind of going on? Can I tell you the most interesting thing doing our little quick rounds of research here about this team, Trev? Guess how many players they have on the books in 20, 22? Not a lot. I know a lot of the, at least the older guys are coming off.

They have three. penciled in on the books for 2020. Three guys. In 2023, one guy. That's the craziest I've seen. I mean, there's a lot of money coming off the books after this year. Yeah. So what does that mean?

That means that they go spend. They can go spend a lot. And they knowing that they can go spend a lot, they can go trade a lot. If Quato is worth anyone to any. at the deadline. They can trade him. If Gossman is worth anyone to anyone, Posey? Probably not going to move him. But like Belt, Crawford,

and a lot of these guys won't play well enough to be wanted by other teams. But I do think that Giants are in the NOS. We all agree. There's no way they're coming in first or second in the NOS. No. They're probably not going to be in a wild card race after a full 162.

I think we could all say that maybe if that second wild card gets are they doing if those rocks and dbacks stink and they change the playoff format maybe yeah but so i i think you know high on the prizes if they can flip some of these guys for mlb ready prospects or year or two out then they have so much money to spend there's a team that spends money yeah i think you're looking at the end like the official and of the era for a lot of these. This is like the 2015 Jeter season. Oh, I think this era is already over.

But so was the Jeter era in 2015, but fans were still coming in Root and to see Posey and to see Crawford and see Belt. Brandon Belts, this is going to be his 11th season with the Giants. Yeah, like, yeah, there's still a lot of fond memories when Giants fans turn on the TV. Yeah. But it's what does it mean on the field?

And right now, I think. When was the last one? 2014 last championship for them was it 10 12 14 14 the last time that they had a a record over 500 was to 2016 this team is very similar to me uh to where the red sox are are at you know i look at this lineup and i kind of i don't know i like the red socks rotation a little bit better than what we're seeing here but uh you know they i like the additions that they've made and yeah jake like you're saying there are teams that are tanking and the teams are absolutely going all in and where are the giants.

They're somewhere in between that. But they have made really good moves. And they have some prospects ready to come up. Buster, you know, I don't, I'm not, how old is Buster Posey? He's on the tail end of his career as a catcher, you know, it's just kind of how it is. They got a young guy named Joy Bart coming up, take his place. They also sign Kurt Casali. You know, he's a decent backup catcher, a former teammate of mine.

Joey Bart's such a great name. Tell us something about Kirk Casale, we don't know. What kind of guy is he? one of the nicest guys. Nice guy. I like that. And he was like Bauer's personal catcher last year. And maybe it was a giant's like effort to get Bauer to come there, maybe, signing Kurt. But he, on his own, he's turned himself into a good player.

I love Kurt. Can't say enough good things about him. But I really do like this lineup. And it's just unfortunate that they're in the NL West. Like you put this team in NL Central, where are they? You could say they're two, one, two. They're in the mix. They're saying.

Just like every central team. Everyone besides the pirates. We'd be saying it's slop. I mean, there's so many weird things on this. Donovan Solano who had kind of a subpar MLB career up until 2019 has now two years with a positive, an OPS plus over 100. He won the Silver Slugger last year and playing 54 games. So, you know, honestly, that probably ends up being a weird asterisk. Hey, I hope 33-year-old Donovan.

Solano figured it out and Donnie Barrels is raking it all over the field. I don't know, man. I like your Red Sox comparison, Trev. The only thing I'd say is that the Red Sox have more high-end guys like Devers or Bogarts. Like those guys can put in a full year for you and end up in some high MVP votes. I don't really see that on this team with these guys right now. Is it a watch? I mean, a lot of these guys, I mean, a lot of these guys, I mean, there was,

Brandon Belt had an on-base percentage of what, 420 or something last year? Something ridiculous. It, baby. But I don't know. I mean, end of the day, end of the day, what does that get them? And, you know, Johnny Quato's money coming off soon. Longo's money coming off soon. Crawford's money coming off soon.

I think we're still in tryouts. They changed the front office there. They brought in our guy. We haven't even mentioned yet. Gabe Kapler, you're in John's guy. So I don't know. I think we're still in the pivot years for this franchise. and you got to, you should operate differently knowing the two beasts that are currently in your division.

I think they're doing great. And you know what Giants fans can be excited about? I think they've developed a very good player development system there and a good big league coaching staff. And I'm checking these guys out. Clearly, they've figured something out with guys like Donnie Batts. And yes, you know, they get up and all the sudden these are like all world players. So you have to give some, I mean, Donnie Ecker, haven't heard of them, but you better start talking about this guy. I think we need. Justin Viele, these are their two hitting coaches who have something going on. There's something in the waters there.

And is that something to do with Brandon Bell and Posey and all these guys, you know, also helping out maybe? But we can't, you know, dismiss the fact that they've developed some players who maybe were lost in the shuffle and turned them into a fucking silver slugger, dude. And he has was getting MVP votes last year. So they're doing something right. They also have Alyssa Nake in there. Gabe knows how he knows talent when he sees it. Treve. It was just very unfortunate.

Unfortunate timing. Jake was sticking his tongue out and waving like a lunatic. I was bored of what you were saying. And then I was just, my tongue was out. It was before you mentioned, Alyssa. Anyway, we will check the tape. Gabe is put together an excellent coaching staff that also, also now

we're over the coaching staff nobody cares you mentioned one more guy you're normally the guy that's so mean to the coaches and now we're doing a deep dive former roommate of mine back in the day is now

the assistant pitching coach there shout out jp martinez player development is huge I don't care you guys can laugh at me and go like this with your face all you want player development is what wins you championships and they're trying to get that started here and Giants fans should be excited about that

fantastic don't care Jim what you'll get excited about this team. What you'll get excited about this team, and I'm sorry to some of our Giants fans, this is the year that they unload at the deadline. Unload. Get me Quato out of town. Get me Gosman out of town. Alex Wood, Descalfani, Aaron Sanchez, that whole starting five could be gone by the trade. Depends how well they pitch. But they also, Alex Woods, very interesting because he was in the bullpen last year for the Dodgers. He's going to go back to the rotation this year. but

team could pick him up put them in their bullpen. Charles Megan faces that's yours. Bord of what you're saying. I'm not talking. You're talking about this. Who care? Oh,

they're going to trade everyone. They got money coming out of the books. Who gives a shit about that? I'm talking about real deal applications here. They're actually developing players. That's important. Not if they're going to ship out money or not. Who cares about that?

We're talking to Giants fans right now. Get them excited. Aren't all the people that you're developing is not the right word. What do you mean? Didn't you bring up guys that weren't even from their farm system? He's just talking coaches. And came over and flourished.

Oh. Flourished. Flourished. I want to talk about Austin Slater. Let's do it. It's just one of the cooler names in baseball. If this was the 1990s, like Austin Slater would just be kicking everyone's ass. You'd have an awesome mullet.

And he'd wear shirts where his biceps were showing. I don't know anything else about him. It's just one of the most... Like, if this was a young adult novel, Austin Slater would be the bull. It's a Mr. Slater, Austin Slater, badass name. That's all I have. Jake, you're up.

I want to talk about the development a little bit of Wilmer Flores. I'm interested in that. Yeah, Wilmer Flores cried when he thought he was getting traded away from the Mets. I don't know, just kind of this weird A. Oh, my God. Are you looking at it right now? Guess Wilmer Flores his age? 33.

29. Well, he was with the Mets for a record. Wow. He came up with the Mets as 21. Wilmer Flores currently listed as a bench piece. I think he's platooning for them a little bit. All he's done is hit the past two years, 840 OPS. So I don't know.

That's another trade piece that's been developed. He did go to the Giants and then have a really good offensive year, Trev. What do you think that could be attributed to? No, you guys got it. Go ahead. Don't give a shit what I say. Make faces during it. You guys got it.

Jake made the face. I made one face. and you were just, you doubled, you went on, you hit two hitting coaches, and that's a lot for me. And I'm sorry. Because I don't know who is the head. It says hitting coach, hitting coach. I had to mention both of them. Clearly they're doing something right.

And if I can give a little shout out to some of these grinder hitting coaches, I'm going to do it. Can I tell you something? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I think you're right. I've known Jake since we were 14 years old. That was a sincere apology, Treve. He meant that.

I understand. Look, I'm just trying to... What do the giants have going for them this year? Not much, man. You're going to finish third in the division. I can tell you some stuff. They're clearing payroll, and they got a lot of people they can trade.

We're all in the same boat here. Clearing payroll doesn't mean anything. If you can just... First of all, spend money on the right guys, draft the right guys, but you have to be able to develop talent, dude. And they're putting together a staff that can do it. So if you clear the books

and you go get all these new guys and you have shit coaches, you're not going to do anything. I'm just saying, why are the Dodgers in front of everybody right now? They develop players, they spend money, and they have a smart front office. The Giants can do all of that now. So you need to be excited about that. Let's get Tommy Lestella, who's the one kind of hitter they brought in this year. Let's get him hitting.

Who he has, like you said. I can't wait. He's had this weird up and down, injuries, career, highs and lows. How about he rakes for the Giants? and then we can say the Giants are a hitter's reclamation team. Yeah, I like that. Boom. Maybe.

This is what we do here. They've already done it. We don't have to have Tommy the Stella to tell you that that's what's going on there. They already have other, you know, people that have come over and done it with them. Some of us here have played. I'm getting into the analytics of it all. Yes. Yes.

He's one of those guys where his results outperform his expected results. a lot. I've never dove into what the analytics community thinks about Yaz, but all of his numbers, like he is expected to have all of his batting averages are better than

expected. All of his slugging is better than expected. I wonder what that means. Good. Is it real? That's the question. Break the system. Don't tell Yelly that. Yeli gets really mad when you talk about expected stats versus real stats. So do I usually hang down. I usually

I mean they're interesting sometimes, but I usually, this was the first time where they were jarringly different. Across the board. When I look at the overall team and the offense that they put out there, I like to look at on base percentage.

That tells me like how professional the bats you're putting together and like, they've been able to put together. I mean, last year, for instance, they put together excellent OBP across the board, like excellent OBP. So their game plan is on point. What was their team on base percentage?

I'm seeing it as 335. Is that wrong? I'm looking. I don't have everything. I'm looking at Brandon Belt at 425, Yaz at 400 and Donnie Barrow's at 365. Alex Dickerson at 371. I mean, that's...

Yeah, no, that's really good. And the addition with Lestella to that is going to be really nice. It's going to be, is it like an old school approach they're doing over there? Like pitchers going to have to, you know, Donnie Barrow's hits every kind of pitch. Yes, hits every kind of pitch looking at his numbers. And I think Lestell is the same. So it's like the top of the order not going to be boomer, bust, three true outcome baseball in San Francisco. So it's going to be fun to watch.

Could be. They got some platoon guys between long. Angoria, Lestella, Wilmer Flores. I mean, they've got some lefties. They've got some righties. I don't know. Estella's the same. 270 for all pitches or higher.

I haven't looked at the over-under yet. I mean, it just feels like a 500 team with not a lot higher potential and not a lot lower potential. Well, the official draft kings over-under is listed at 75 and a half. Are you taking higher? I'm going to take because I do think if they. if they start off and any of those pitchers are having great seasons,

they're going to get traded and then the backends won't be there. If those pitchers are having bad seasons, they're going to stay on the team all year and can probably maybe stay having bad seasons. So I'm going to take the under. Treve, you got a lean? I'm in a tough spot.

I'm just going through all like the team statistics to see where the Giants rank. And every single one offensively, they're like top seven. Yeah. Except, except, this is weird to me. I'm sorry, I'm going on a little tangent here. Walks, not even close to the top,

but somehow they're on base percentages. Well, if you're on a team, you have a little bit of luck there. They don't walk. Fifth and batting average last year. You don't walk off the island, Treve. Over under, is it 75? 75, I took the under.

Gosh, it's tough. I'll go over. Say the D-Backs, rocks, big stance. If they did that, what you guys are talking. Yeah. What's tough about teams like this is if they do what you guys are talking about, they start to sell off people, which. That's what I said.

Instead, if they start off hot, they're just going to sell all the good players. That's why I'm taking the under. Treb, what were you officially? After my tangent, I got to go over. Okay. Reclamation. You know me, Treve. It's going to be hella good.

Reclamation giants. It's disrespectful. It was a little bit. But you went heavy on coaches. Max's fun stat, first baseman Brandon Belt's 2019 to 2020 batting average increase of 0.075 points, 234 to 309 was the fourth highest batting average increase in all of baseball across the past two seasons. Only behind Marcel Ozuna and Heimer Candelario and Jose Iglesias. Hitting.

Oh, goes in the water Brandon Belt, nice career. Yes. Oh, his home run chart if he actually played at Yankee Stadium with him, wild. Long neck. Did he have a long neck?

He's got a long leg. Long neck.